


Gruesome Legends & Eerie Exploration

by okemmelie



Category: Starship - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Paranormal Investigators, YouTube, canon-typical drug use because junior really is like that huh, idk they're youtubing, just regular college and sadly not space college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26881081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: Junior and Krayonder decides to make their very own YouTube channel. Their plan is to investigate local legends and maybe expand to national, should they make it that far. There's no way that could go wrong, right?
Relationships: Krayonder & Junior, they are friends in this one and i love that for them
Comments: 34
Kudos: 20





	1. A Tale of Creation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [casmourde](https://archiveofourown.org/users/casmourde/gifts).



> listen……… i know very few people care about starship in the year 2020, but………. i care. so here's junior and krayonder fucking around with making a youtube channel because it's my fic and i decide what i do with it! also it's dedicated to my epic poggers friend cass whom i love and appreciate

“Hey, thank you for letting me do this here,” Junior says as he sits down on the bed.

Krayonder tilts his head back in a nod - a bro nod, to be exact, because Junior is his bro. “No problem, man.” He says it casually, like someone who doesn’t care about the reality that he can get thrown out of university housing if they find him (well, Junior… no, both of them; definitely both of them) smoking pot in here. But it’s not true! He doesn’t  _ not care _ . Not caring and not remembering are two completely different things.

A tiny cloud of smoke catches his eyes and Junior exhales. “God, my dad can be so annoying about these kinds of things. He usually doesn’t touch my stuff, right, which is cool. It’s not an issue when he doesn’t touch my stuff. But then after my ‘new mom’ moved in, it’s like…  _ suddenly _ my room and my stuff is, like, her new playground. Who even asked her to clean it before I had a chance to hide my weed?”

Tilting his head a bit to the side, Krayonder looks up at Junior expectantly. He’s going to go on, he knows that, so there’s no use in interrupting.

“That’s right: No one!” There he goes. “Ugh. It’s like they just don’t get me. At all.”

Krayonder rolls his eyes, endearingly of course. “Woah! Yeah bro, it must be so hard. Living in your father’s mansion, eating food prepared by your new mom who spends hours and hours every day to make sure it’s delicious. It’s like… save some struggle for the rest of us, am I right?”

A pillow flies directly towards him and he has no time to react, so he catches it with his face. “Don’t be fucking rude.”

“Fine,” he agrees. He’s not sure it’s true, but he will try his best. Probably. “Ehh, anyway. You know how I’m being super kind and letting you smoke in here?” Junior nods. “Well, I was thinking that maybe in return, just so we’re, like, equal or whatever, you could buy us a camera.”

Junior laughs. “Oh.... oh that’s really awkward, because on one hand you’re my friend and I want to help you and stuff but on the other, you offered that I could smoke in here and so I’m not obligated to do anything for you in return. Sorry.” He doesn’t look too sorry. “Why would I buy  _ us  _ a camera anyway?”

This is the moment he’s been waiting for, the perfect opportunity to really sell his idea. “Oh, man, it’s just because – you know how I’m a film major and stuff? Yeah, I figured we could make a YouTube channel together.”

Suddenly, Junior’s eyebrow perks up. “A YouTube channel, you say?”

“Yeah, I  _ literally _ just said that, dude.” Junior gives him a look, so he shuts up for a second. Then he proceeds to give Junior his whole sales speech.

To his surprise, Junior’s in. Of course, that’s after Krayonder agrees to let him store his weed in his dorm room so his new mom doesn’t find it again, but it’s still a victory in Krayonder’s book. Junior’s going to buy them a camera among other recording essentials, and next week they’ll begin shooting the first episodes of their alien…… cryptid…… paranormal….. whatever, their show: Gruesome Legends & Eerie Exploration!


	2. The Bug Man's Tale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the boys are finally making their show and good for them

“Hello friends and welcome to the very first episode of Gruesome Legends & Eerie Exploration, or – as we like to call it – GLEE,” Junior says with the confidence of someone who hasn’t noticed that the camera is not yet on.

Krayonder laughs at him, and shakes his head as well for good measure. “Someone’s a little excited. Just wait until I get the lights set up correctly, man. Or maybe just until I turn on the camera.”

The look he gets from Junior is anything but friendly, but he actively do anything to murder him while he goes to make sure the lights are correct, so Krayonder considers that a victory. Like, it’s one of those things, y’know? It’s like... he doesn’t  _ think  _ Junior has killed someone, but he also wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be wrong. In a good way, of course. There are no hard feelings towards Junior Spaceclaw and his most likely not murderous nature.

“Ready?” He asks, and Junior nods so he starts the camera.

This time, Junior speaks with the confidence of someone who  _ knows  _ the camera is turned on because his close, good friend Krayonder told him about it (what a bro that Krayonder is). “Hello friends and welcome to the very first episode of Gruesome Legends & Eerie Exploration, or – as we like to call it – GLEE. I’m your host Junior.”

“And I’m Krayonder,” he adds after jumping into frame. He, too, is a host after all. “Hey dude, wanna tell me what we’re exploring today?”

Junior smiles. “You know I do,” he says and steps to the side. Krayonder mirrors the movement. “We are standing in the crash site of a spaceship.”

“Now this old thing,” Krayonder says before giving the side of the spaceship a little clap. They’ve already broken into the crash site without permission, so why not go all in? “She’s called 15A2. It’s what it says on the side, but it’s not what she goes by around these parts. Na, this babe is better known as the bug ship because of the  _ ridiculous  _ amount of bugs that are found in the immediate vicinity. Seriously, it’s bonkers.”

Junior jumps in, right on cue. “And that’s not even mentioning the legend of the bug man. Maybe you’ve heard of him?”

Their first episode isn’t particularly long and the show isn’t particularly serious. Sure, the legend of the bug man is entertaining enough, but everyone knows it’s just a joke, a fun little story to tell around a campfire. Junior seems to have a fun time telling the tale though and Krayonder has a short attention span, so he finds himself distracted.

He spots someone and manages to completely forget that they’re recording for a second. “Hey bro!”

Junior sighs, but after a while it seems that he, too, spots their friend from college. “Hi Bug. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, you know.” Bug scratches the back of his head. “Just chilling. I just think starships are pretty neat.” That seems legit enough. Starships  _ are  _ pretty neat. “What about you guys?”

Letting Junior take the lead on this one seems like the right call, because somehow Junior just knows what to say. “We’re just recording an episode for our YouTube series. It’s about the bug ship.”

“The episode, not the series,” Krayonder enthusiastically adds.

Junior gives him a tired look. “Thank you, Krayonder.”

A lightbulb goes off in Krayonder’s head and suddenly, he’s maneuvering Bug into the shot. “Everyone, this is my bro, Bug. Bug, what do you know about the bug ship? Have you heard the story of the bug man?

Bug doesn’t know a lot that they don’t already have in the episode, but they let him talk about it anyway.

Well, at least Junior does. Krayonder gets distracted halfway though. “Wouldn’t it be funny if  _ you  _ were the bug man? Like how sick would it be if you were  _ actually  _ a bug from outer space, dude?”

His comment gets a nervous laugh from Bug. “Yeah, that would, uh…. that would be funny. Listen guys, I gotta go. It’s been fun but I’m… really busy. See ya!”

He walks away and they let him. Then they get working on recording the remainder of the episode.


	3. We Love A Comment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shout out to cog

The video goes up and the two of them wait.

“Why aren't there any views yet?” Junior asks. “I feel like there should be views by now. I mean, I’m hilarious. Charming. Handsome. Overall, a joy to watch. So why, Krayonder, have we not gotten any views yet?”

Krayonder rolls his eyes. “It’s been seven minutes, man. Give the people a chance.”

“Well,” Junior says as he claps his hands together. “I’ve given them a chance. A seven minute long chance. And they haven’t taken it. I’m done waiting.”

“Bruh.” Krayonder gives him a look. “What are you going to do? Sue them for not watching a YouTube video? Dude. Even I can see that’s stupid.”

“Obviously I’m not going to sue anyone for not watching our video. I’m going to make a Facebook post, an Instagram post and a Snap story,  _ politely  _ asking our friends and family to watch and share.”

Junior’s plan works. Their friends are kind enough to share the video, some with some reluctance (Taz even claims that she isn’t their friend, which is completely false; they’ve had lunch together at least once).

And while they at first celebrate their victory, Junior pretty quickly finds something to be unhappy with. “Why can’t they see I’m the star of this thing?”

“Hey man! What about me?”

“And you too,” Junior says, but he rolls his eyes and Krayonder is  _ pretty sure  _ that means he doesn’t truly mean it. “All they’re focused on is Bug. Why did we keep the Bug footage in anyway?”

Krayonder shrugs. “I don’t know, bro. Because it was good, genuine and a little extra drama?” It added some much-needed sincerity to their show in his opinion. Nothing like natural conversation to spark up an otherwise scripted show. “I’m personally more offended that they think it’s fake.”

“Yeah, have you read this shit?”

He tells Junior that he obviously has. He’s read it all. The comments about the shots with Bug being scripted and fake (which they didn’t!) and more interestingly, the theory comments. Those who didn’t believe Bug’s appearance was fake (and if they did, they didn’t point it out), but rather theorized that Bug was an actual bug (in a human body, of course) who had arrived on planet earth in the bug ship.

“Honestly, bro, I think the Bug story line is a really good addition. We’ve gotten quite a few views and from what I can tell, it’s from people sharing the Bug is a bug theory.”

Junior shakes his head. “Nah. I’m pretty sure it’s me. They just don’t want to leave comments about it because they’re embarrassed to say they find me hot. Though that one user, the one with the screen name  _ ‘cog’ _ … They know what’s good. I’d kiss them back if I could.”

“Someone named  _ Cog  _ said they wanted to kiss you? Bruh.” Cog’s not even a real name. But to be fair, Krayonder’s been told his name isn’t either more than he can count, so who is he to judge?

Junior gives him a weird look. “Jealous much? I’m pretty. You’re just sad no one wants to kiss you.”

Krayonder flips him off and then they start planning their next move. They’ll be breaking into the allegedly haunted house on the edge of college campus. And after convincing Taz with cold hard cash, she’s going to come with them because none of them knows how to break into anything.


	4. The Allegedly Haunted House on the Hill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would have borrowed less dialogue from canon if starship wasn't such a masterpiece. also tw for canon-typical stabbing

Bringing Taz turns out to be both a much better and much worse idea than they originally thought.

They need to hop a tall, metal fence to get into this allegedly haunted house and Krayonder jumps over it first. Sure, it’s not the most elegant thing in the world, but he makes it.

Then it’s Taz’s turn. Now, Taz is fairly small. Sure, she’s got strong arms, but she’s also a girl. Krayonder’s pretty sure that, logically, that adds up to her struggling more than he did to jump the fence, but it’s quite the opposite actually. She manages to jump high enough to grab the top of the fence and then proceeds to swing the rest of her body over it, landing elegantly on the ground next to him moments later.

“Woaaahh,” he says, because that’s how he feels about it. It’s impressive and he wants to tell her that. “Hey Taz, you’re pretty tough for a chick.”

She rolls her eyes. “I was just going to say the same thing about you.”

“Woaaahh!” He repeats his previous statement but with more energy to it this time; they’re being buddy-buddy and he loves that for them.

Then they both turn to face Junior. He hasn’t started climbing yet, but rather he looks at the chains holding the fence together. “Alright friends, that was really impressive. Like, we get it. You’re strong and all that. And I love that for you, I really do. But like, when are you going to unlock that so we can all get in?”

Taz looks at him with a stone-cold stare. “No, no, no, no. You’re climbing over here like the rest of us.”

“Really funny guys, but c’mon,” Junior laughs. He stops after a while after Taz doesn’t move and Krayonder gives him this apologetic look. “Okay, now I’m getting a feeling this isn’t a joke. Which one of you is coming over here to help me climb this? Taz?” Taz just raises an eyebrow at her. It doesn’t look like she’s going to move. “Krayonder?”

Krayonder relents; there’s not much else to do if they want to get shooting done.

And once they’re all safely over the fence, they make their way towards the house. It’s locked, as expected, but that’s why Taz is here. She fiddles with the lock for a bit, then gives the door a kick. It swings open, revealing the dark interior of… well, a pretty regular looking house.

They set up their filming equipment, ‘they’ here meaning Krayonder. He has the most experience with these kinds of things, anyway, so it’s probably what makes sense.

Junior is the face of the operation, so after they do their little introduction together, he takes over. Once he finishes the shots he’s in alone, it’s time for the shots they’ve prepared with Taz. And the surprise they’ve prepared  _ for  _ Taz.ˇ

“Hey, I’m just going to go piss, but you two feel free to get started,” Krayonder tells them before heading into the hallway. When he hears that they’ve started, he takes off his backpack and finds the sheet he’s packed in there.

He pulls it over his head and through the holes he’s made in it for eyes, he makes his way back into the room they’re filming in. He manages to sneak up almost all the way behind Taz before she turns. “Boo,” he says in a spooky dramatic voice. “I’m a ghost.”

Taz finds something in her pocket, and suddenly there’s a knife in his side. He lets out a cry of pain as she grabs onto him tightly and points her finger at him. “You listen to me, Krayonder.  _ Never  _ do that to anyone  _ ever  _ again, you hear me?”

“You stabbed me!”

“I asked you a question,” she says.

“Yes.  _ Yes, _ I hear you, man.”

Junior looks back at them, then turns to the camera and calmly starts to talk. “We are experiencing some technical issues, so this concludes the end of the second episode of Gruesome Legends & Eerie Exploration.”

“I’m dying,” Krayonder says. He knows it’s a lie but it sure feels like it.

“Tune in next time for more of me,” Junior continues.

Taz loosens her grip on him. “Now take a walk off my knife.”

And so he does. He pulls the sheet off and presses it against his fresh wound as he goes to turn off the camera.


	5. The Tale Comes To An End

Yet another episode going up should feel like a victory, but it doesn’t.

Krayonder is just sitting there, with an actual stab wound, and watching comment upon comment upon comment roll in saying how they staged and faked it. And like, not to call their viewers out, but bruh.

He turns his laptop to Junior, showing him the unjust comments they’re getting. “Have you seen this?” He asks. “It’s just not cool, dude. Not cool!”

Junior scrolls for a bit, at first looking worried but then a relieved expression falls over his face and a smile forms on his lips. “Thank god,  _ cog  _ still wants to kiss me. They’re also saying that you need to drink some respect women juice.”

“What’s that?”

He shrugs. “No clue.”

Krayonder sighs and falls back on his bed. “I just don’t get it, man. We’ve got a good show, it’s fun and entertaining, but everyone just wants to call it fake or kiss one of us.”

“Me.”

“As I said,  _ one of us.  _ Could be either, bro.”

“Me.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you. What do you wanna do about it though?”

It’s impressive how he manages to shrug with his shoulders half-buried in the bed (or maybe it isn’t but whatever). “I don’t know, man. We could always sell the camera and buy weed if all else fails.”

They shake hands on it and agree that’s their game plan. Seven episodes later, they retire the channel, sell the camera and go buy weed, and that’s the end of Gruesome Legends & Eerie Exploration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big f in the chat for junior and krayonder, but hey! at least they're not dying in space. also cog, if you're out there, i hope your day is totally tubular


End file.
